Locality and Small Firms: Some Reflections from the Franco-British Project, “Industrial Systems, Technical Change and Locality”

Abstract

Research carried out as part of the Franco-British project “Industrial Systems, Technical Change and Locality” has highlighted weaknesses in current work on locality. In particular, it has been found that examination of the role of small and medium sized firms, recognition of the role of cooperation in capitalist relations of production, and identification of ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ notions of locality all help to produce a more robust understanding of social and economic change at the restricted scale of the locality.